The Sleeping Post, Part II

I'm watching Amelia in the video monitor toss and turn (as much as she can when she's swaddled and sandwiched between a positioner).  Her eyes are closed but she's obviously thinking about waking up yet again.  I put her down around 8pm.  It's now 10 minutes to 9 and she's already been up once, crying and not willing to go back to sleep.  I rocked her and laid her back down.  That was about 15 minutes ago and she's now whining again...awake.

It's not a good sleep week so far.  I think Amelia is getting her first two teeth on the bottom.  I'm just confused at her way of going about cutting those two teeth.  She will not sleep, but it's not that's she's really all that cranky.  She wants to nurse a lot but otherwise if she wakes up and you engage her then she's perfectly fine.  I'll give you a few examples.  Last night she was up every two hours.  I'm not kidding.  It's like she was a newborn again, only this time I didn't have my husband's help in the wee hours of the morning.  The man has a full-time job and needs every bit of sleep he can get (which isn't much, really!). 

I've been trying to put her down in her crib and leaving her there instead of moving her into bed with us all of the time.  I'm not against my baby sleeping with us as long as she's always in her sleep positioner (for safety) and as long as we have a time set for when she needs to be in her bed full time.  Anyway, since she had been sleeping pretty sporadically the last few days we decided to let her sleep with us last night.  History shows that if she's in bed with us she'll sleep twice as long as if she were on her own in her crib.  Apparently that's not the issue - at least not this week.  She woke up every 2 hours, nursed, then went back to sleep. 

Today it took me 2 1/2 hours to get her to sleep for her first nap of the day and then she only slept 30 minutes.  She slept again around 4:45pm and, again, slept only for about 30 minutes.  It's like she completes one REM cycle and she's done.  How do I get her to sleep for longer stretches during the day?  She's never slept in her crib for naps longer than 30 minute incriments.  I take that back - maybe twice she's slept 45 minutes.  I don't swaddle her - she is just on her back in her crib to sleep.  I don't know why she refuses to sleep longer than 30 minutes but it literally is 30 minutes on the nose every single time.  Suggestions??

I'm already halfway through a bottle of Hylands Teething Tablets which are homeopathic and supposedly miraculous.  Apparently my child is immune to them because they never seem to work for her.  Finally I gave her some Tylenol tonight and she went right back out.  She'll sleep with us again tonight - I'm going to try to get as much sleep out of her as possible.  She's not cranky when she wakes up as long as someone is holding her.  As a matter of fact, she's downright cheery if she wakes up and you pick her up and let her stay awake.  However, if you try to put her pacifier back in without picking her up she'll shake her head back and forth violently and refuse to accept it.  If you pick her up and take her to the glider, prepare for battle.  It takes pushing the pacifier in and holding it there while she cries and tries to get away (I'm really not torturing my child).  After a few seconds of holding in the paci, rocking her, and patting her rear while humming "You Are My Sunshine" she calms down and will eventually go to sleep. 

We are heading to Oregon for Thanksgiving this year.  Again, I'm nervous about how Amelia will do in the car but we are prepared this time.  Pray it works.  I'll let you know.  On another Thanksgiving note, I'm contributing an appetizer (Spinach Artichoke dip) and dessert (Chocolate Caramel cake).  If I remember, I'll post the recipes.

I made this recipe tonight since I had some cabbage and celery in my fridge that I needed to use.  I didn't have the sausage but David and I both thought it was good.  If you make it, try to season it heavily - it seems to need it.  I used a can of Rotel instead of the stewed tomatoes.

I don't even have a cute picture to share!  Oh, but I found this video we took on the 16th of this month.  Pardon my frumpy, no-makeup, hair pulled-back look.  I was in the middle of organizing the back bedroom which has become our catch-all over the past few months.

Still have laundry & packing to do. I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share after this weekend.  I'm going to take a blogging hiatus until next week.  Not that it's unusual for me to not blog for a week.  Our sweet friend, Sarah, is taking Christmas pictures of the kids and families this weekend.  I hope Millie's Christmas dress(es) fit her!